Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error From $6.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture. Director: Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.

a list of 45 titles created 05 Dec 2011 a list of 34 titles created 25 Jan 2015 a list of 23 titles created 08 Nov 2015 a list of 49 titles created 9 months ago a list of 37 titles created 2 months ago Title: Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008) 7.2/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 Oscar. Another 31 wins & 51 nominations. See more awards » Videos At a turning point in his life, a former tennis pro falls for an actress who happens to be dating his friend and soon-to-be brother-in-law. Director: Woody Allen While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight. Director: Woody Allen A New York socialite, deeply troubled and in denial, arrives in San Francisco to impose upon her sister.

She looks a million, but isn't bringing money, peace, or love... Director: Woody Allen The lives of some visitors and residents of Rome and the romances, adventures and predicaments they get into. Director: Woody Allen An American journalism student in London scoops a big story, and begins an affair with an aristocrat as the incident unfurls. Director: Woody Allen Post-WWII Germany: Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Berg re-encounters his former lover as she defends herself in a war-crime trial. Director: Stephen Daldry A middle-aged, misanthropic divorcée from New York City surprisingly enters a fulfilling, Pygmalion-type relationship with a much younger, unsophisticated Southern girl. Director: Woody Allen A romantic comedy about an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle. Personal and professional complications ensue. Director: Woody Allen Sally's parents' marriage breaks up when her father undergoes a mid-life crisis and impulsively weds a prostitute. Meanwhile, Sally's own marriage also begins to disintegrate.

Director: Woody Allen The life of a divorced television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress. Director: Woody Allen The story of Harvey Milk , and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official. Director: Gus Van Sant Biopic of the iconic French singer Édith Piaf . Raised by her grandmother in a brothel, she was discovered while singing on a street corner at the age of 19. Despite her success, Piaf's life was filled with tragedy. Director: Olivier Dahan Edit Storyline Sexually adventurous Cristina and her friend Vicky, who is bright but cautious, holiday in Barcelona where they meet the celebrated and wholly seductive painter, Juan Antonio. Vicky is not about to dive into a sexual adventure being committed to her forthcoming marriage. But Cristina is immediately captivated by Juan Antonio's free spirit and his romantic allure is enhanced when she hears the delicious details of his divorce from fellow artist, the tempestuous Maria Elena.

Written by johnno.r[at]xtra.co.nz Life is the ultimate work of art Genres: Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexuality, and smoking | See all certifications » Parents Guide: 15 August 2008 (USA) See more » Also Known As: $3,755,575 (USA) (15 August 2008) Gross: Did You Know? Trivia This is the fourth consecutive film where Woody Allen has filmed outside of the United States (after Match Point (2005), Scoop (2006) and Cassandra's Dream (2007)). New York does feature as a filming location in the film but it is believed Allen has tired of filming in New York, hence the existence of European locations in his recent work. See more » Goofs During the flights in the Piper twin-engine aircraft, the airspeed indicator reads zero and the attitude indicator is flagged, showing that it is unpowered. This would indicate that the aircraft is not running and is sitting on the ground. See more » Quotes [first lines] Narrator : Vicky and Cristina decided to spend the summer in Barcelona.

Vicky was completing her master's in Catalan Identity, which she had become interested in through her great affection for the architecture of Gaudí. Cristina, who spent the last six months writing, directing, and acting in a 12-minute film which she then hated, had just broken up with yet another boyfriend and longed for a change of scenery. Everything fell into place when a distant relative of Vicky's family who lived in... [...] Performed by Biel Ballester Trio with Leo Hipaucha & Graci Pedro Courtesy of Refined Records (Los Angeles, CA) – See all my reviews Barcelona is recognizable enough and exotic enough to frame the latest complication from Woody Allen. Allen himself claims to care very little about films. He doesn't consider them the center of his life. Strange, because I do, Woody Allen without his films is...well I don't know who or what he is. Here he ventures again outside New York in a shape and form that reminded me a little bit of Jacques Rivette. Scarlet Johansson and Rebecca Hall, as the blond and the brunette of the title, make a great pair of opposites or seemingly so.

Javier Bardem is the artist that comes to ruffle their world and the spectacular Penelope Cruz (getting better and better with every movie) is the hysterical side of the artist's past. We spend a great deal of time sitting at tables eating and drinking while a voice over guide us through their physical and emotional journey. I was delighted, entertained ever aroused. Woody Allen keeps surprising and he's got it whether he cares about it or not. 82 of 132 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Jonathan Romney Film Comment Magazine It's a shift in tone for Allen; it's still a movie about sex and those who seek it, but it's hung on a sun-blushed, wine-sploshed Spanish love triangle that's more appealing and more amorous than anything the director has produced in decades. September 29, 2012 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review… Ali Gray TheShiznit.co.uk Although Penelope Cruz's performance is amusing, the film feels a bit forced, looking for meaning in Spain where there may not be any.

August 15, 2011 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review… Wesley Lovell Cinema Sight Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Allen's an ode to unrestrictive love, and a commentary on sex and how it speaks to different people. Yet its charm and beauty is undercut by a stinging cynicism. July 7, 2010 | Rating: 3.5/5 | Full Review… Woody Allen's diary: insight into life on the set of his forthcoming film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona | Film | The Guardian Close 2 January, 2008 Received offer to write and direct film in Barcelona. Must be cautious. Spain is sunny, and I freckle. Money not great either, but agent did manage to get me a 10th of 1% of anything the picture does over $400m after break-even. Have no idea for Barcelona - unless the story of the two Hackensack Jews who start a mail-order embalming firm could be switched. 5 March Met with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz. She's ravishing and more sexual than I had imagined. During interview my pants caught fire.

Bardem is one of those brooding geniuses who clearly will need a firm hand from me. 2 April Offered role to Scarlett Johansson . Said before she could accept, script must be approved by her agent, then by her mother, with whom she's close. Following that, it must be approved by her agent's mother. In middle of negotiation she changed agents - then changed mothers. She's gifted but can be a handful. 1 June Arrived Barcelona. Accommodation's first class. Hotel has been promised half star next year, provided they install running water. 5 June Shooting got off to a shaky start. Rebecca Hall, though young and in her first major role, is a bit more temperamental than I thought and had me barred from the set. I explained the director must be present to direct the film. Try as I may, I could not convince her and had to disguise as man delivering lunch to sneak back on the set. 15 June Work finally under way. Shot a torrid love scene today between Scarlett and Javier. If this were a scant few years ago, I would have played Javier's part. When I mentioned that to Scarlett, she said, "Uh-huh," with an enigmatic intonation.

Scarlett came late to the set. I lectured her rather sternly, explaining I do not tolerate tardiness from my cast. She listened respectfully, although as I spoke I thought I noticed her turning up her iPod. 20 June Barcelona is a marvellous city. Crowds turn out in the streets to watch us work. Mercifully they realise I've no time to give autographs, and so they ask only the cast members. Later, I handed out some 8x10 photos of myself shaking hands with Spiro Agnew and offered to sign them, but by then the crowd had dispersed. 26 June Filmed at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's masterpiece. Was thinking I have much in common with the great Spanish architect. We both defy convention, he with his breathtaking designs and me by wearing a lobster bib in the shower. 30 June Dailies are looking good, and while Javier's idea to add a massive Martian invasion scene complete with 1,000 costumed extras and elaborate flying saucers is not a very good one, I will shoot it to make him happy and cut it in the editing room.

3 July Scarlett came to me today with one of those questions actors ask: "What's my motivation?" I shot back: "Your salary." She said fine but that she needed a lot more motivation to continue. About triple. Otherwise she threatened to walk. I called her bluff and walked first. Then she walked. Now we were rather far apart and had to yell to be heard. Then she threatened to hop. I hopped, too, and soon we were at an impasse. At the impasse I ran into friends, and we all drank, and of course I got stuck with the check. 15 July Once again I had to help Javier with the love-making scenes. The sequence requires him to grab Penélope Cruz , tear off her clothes and ravish her in the bedroom. Oscar-winner that he is, the man still needs me to show him how to play passion. I grabbed Penélope and with one motion tore her clothes off. As fate would have it, she had not yet changed into costume, so it was her own expensive dress I mutilated. Undaunted, I flung her down before the fireplace and dove on top of her.

Minx that she is, she rolled away a split second before I landed, causing me to fracture certain key teeth on the tile floor. Fine day's work, and I should be able to eat solids by August. 30 July Dailies looking rather brilliant. Probably too early to start planning Academy campaign. Still, a few notes for an acceptance speech might just save me some time later. 3 August I suppose it comes with the territory. As director, one is part teacher, part shrink, part father figure, part guru. Is it any wonder then that, as the weeks have passed, Scarlett and Penélope have both developed crushes on me? The fragile female heart. I notice poor Javier looking on enviously as the actresses bed me with their eyes, but I've explained to the boy that unbridled feminine desire for a cinema icon, particularly one who wears a sneer of cold command, is to be expected. Meanwhile, when I approach the set, each morning bathed and freshly scented, between Scarlett and Penélope there is a virtual feeding frenzy. I never like mixing business with pleasure, but I may have to slake the lust of each one in turn to get the film completed.

Perhaps I can give Penélope Wednesdays and Fridays, satisfying Scarlett Tuesdays and Thursdays. Like alternate-side parking. That would leave Monday free for Rebecca, whom I stopped just in time from tattooing my name on her thigh. I'll have a drink with the ladies in the cast after filming and set some ground rules. Maybe the old system of ration coupons could work. 10 August Directed Javier in emotional scene today. Had to give him line readings. As long as he imitates me, he's fine. The minute he tries his own acting choices, he's lost. Then he weeps and wonders how he'll survive when I'm no longer his director. I explained politely but firmly that he must do the best he can without me and to try to remember the tips I've given him. I know he was cheered because when I left his trailer, he and his friends were howling with laughter. 20 August Made love with Scarlett and Penélope simultaneously in an effort to keep them happy. Ménage gave me great idea for the climax of the movie.

Rebecca kept pounding on the door, and I finally let her in, but those Spanish beds are too small to handle four, and when she joined, I kept getting bounced to the floor. 25 August End production today. Wrap party as usual a little sad. Slow-danced with Scarlett. Broke her toe. Not my fault. When she dipped me back, I stepped on it. Penélope and Javier anxious to work with me again. Said if I ever come up with another screenplay to try and find them. Goodbye drink with Rebecca. Sentimental moment. Everyone in cast and crew chipped in and bought me a ballpoint pen. Have decided to call film Vicky Cristina Barcelona . Studio heads have seen all the dailies. Apparently they love every frame, and there is talk of opening it at a leper colony. It's lonely at the top. • Vicky Cristina Barcelona is out on 6 February. Woody Allen, film director/actor, 73 Published: 17 Jan 2009 The swain in Spain - Film - Entertainment - smh.com.au The swain in Spain Woody Allen on the set of Vicky Cristina Barcelona with Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Latest related coverage Helen Barlow December 12, 2008 AFTER two disappointing London-set films, Woody Allen had to produce something special when he went to make comedy-romance Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Spain. Why not cast two of the world's most beautiful women (Scarlett Johansson and Penelope Cruz), have them kiss in fond embrace, introduce the talents of up-and-comer Rebecca Hall, add hunky Javier Bardem to the concoction and have all three girls sleep with him? Oh, and then have Bardem in a threesome with Johansson and Cruz for good measure. Not a bad way to get attention. Yet Allen says the abundance of sex in his latest film wasn't contrived. "It's purely part of the story," he admits in his nasal New York drawl. "But there's not a lot of [on-screen] sex in the film. It requires a little sex but if I had a story that required a lot of graphic sex, I'd do it." Allen's 40th film in as many years features Hall's Vicky and Johansson's Cristina as two Americans coming to Barcelona for an extended summer holiday.

Vicky is already engaged so wants to focus on the city's culture, while Cristina, although having existential philosophical delusions, is just as happy to get laid. When Bardem's artist Juan Antonio suggests he whisk them off for a sightseeing dirty weekend, Vicky is more reluctant, though agrees to go. Cristina, however, comes down with food poisoning, so Vicky is left alone with the veritable Don Juan for what just might be her last fling before she heads down the aisle. Later, Cristina moves in with the bohemian painter and the relationship is enhanced (an hour into the film) when Bardem's explosive and erratic ex-wife, Maria Elena (Cruz), a famous artist, comes to stay after trying to kill herself. She teaches Cristina how to improve her photography, how to treat her art with respect and also seduces her in the dark room. "It was very unromantic and very professional," Allen says of the moment that sent Cannes aflutter when the film premiered in May. "Scarlett and Penelope came in more interested in eating lunch, 'Let's go eat!' " Allen says. "It's all just pretend and very unromantic.

When they did the scene there were millions of guys with lights and cameras - most of the crew made sure they were on set that day!" "These women are so beautiful that anything they do, they smoke a cigarette, they throw something in the wastepaper basket, they make it look interesting." With frothy music, upbeat narration, sumptuous locations and a gorgeous cast, Allen lulls us into believing we are watching light entertainment about sexual attraction. Yet the characters struggle with commitment, attraction, duty and passion as each tries to find happiness. For Allen, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a critique of artistic pretensions. "I've always felt that society cuts too much slack for artists, that they pamper artists, that there's this belief that somehow an artist was born an artist, like being born tall or black-skinned or red-haired," he says. "It has nothing to do with any skill at all. "Artists are over-rewarded. A common schoolteacher will do a hard day's work - very important work teaching kids - and get little money for it, whereas some silly actor will get $20 million to do a moronic film about car crashes or toilet jokes.

Somebody doing really significant work we could care less about." At first it seems Hall might emerge as the film's voice of reason, while others believe she is playing the Woody role, which Allen says he had never intended. In any case, the British theatre actor and daughter of stage director Sir Peter Hall and American opera singer Maria Ewing was excited to be given her lead role in the movie by her long-time cinematic hero. (Her favourite Allen film is Manhattan.) The 26-year-old, who appeared in The Prestige alongside Hugh Jackman ("He's gorgeous . . . a lovely man") and James McAvoy in Starter For 10, has since played David Frost's girlfriend in Frost/Nixon, where she again gets to play a sensible character. "Maybe I don't get offered dizzier roles because I have too long a face and I don't wear enough make-up," says Hall on the phone from New York, where she is rehearsing Sam Mendes's stage productions of The Cherry Orchard and A Winter's Tale. "I think I'm good at playing wisdom - not that I have any innate wisdom at all. I mean, I live in a permanent state of chaos . . .

I can't seem to be organised or neat or sensible or anything like that." Sounds like Allen, although the director likens himself more to Bardem's painter. "Ha ha ha!" Hall roars. "He would like to think of himself like that!" In reality, Allen is far less adventurous. "I am a creature of habit - ask my wife [Soon-Yi] about that," he says. "I like to do the same thing every day. Get up, do the treadmill, take the kids to school, do some work, practise my horn and eat at the same restaurants. If you're going to be productive, it's important to keep regular hours and work habits." Still, breaking the routine to make Match Point in London seemed to bring a zest to Allen's filmmaking and now Barcelona has added a new potency as well - this film is a sizzling return to form. "I loved it in Spain," he says. "My family had a wonderful time living there for six months." Would he make a film in Australia? "I've never been to Australia. I'm always intimidated by the amount of time it takes to fly there," he says.

Of course, the 73-year-old's films are not as popular here - or in the US - as they are in Europe. His previous movie, Cassandra's Dream, went straight to DVD here. "None of my films over the years have ever been financially enormous," he says. "Years ago, when Annie Hall won the Academy Award for best picture, to this time it's the smallest-earning Academy Award winner ever. So I never have big expectations. "I'm happy if I can accomplish what I set out to do with each film. Most of the time I don't. Most of the time I have a great idea and I look at the film and I think, 'Ah it's terrible, I had such a good idea and I made a bad film.' Sometimes I think, 'Oh I have a great idea and I've made a good film; I've made the exact film in my head and I'm happy.' "But in either case not a lot of people come to see them." Vicky Cristina Barcelona Director Woody Allen Stars Rebecca Hall, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem Rated M. Out December 26.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona DVD (2008) Directed by Woody Allen; Starring Penélope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson, Javier Bardem & Rebecca Hall; Weinstein Company | OLDIES.com Academy Awards 2009 - Best Supporting Actress Entertainment Reviews: Film Comment - 07/01/2008 "DP Javier Aguirresarobe makes locations and actors alike charming and delightful, bathing everything in a handsome, sun-glazed glow....[There are] glimmers of Allen's old confidence." Rolling Stone - 08/21/2008 3 stars out of 5 -- "Woody Allen goes Latin, and the romantic, richly comic result -- powered by a dream cast -- is his sexiest movie ever....Cruz is a stunner in every sense of the word..." New York Times - 08/15/2008 "VICKY CRISTINA trips along winningly, carried by the beauty of its locations and stars -- and all the gauzy romanticism those enchanted places and people imply..." USA Today - 08/20/2008 "[E]xhilarating, captivating and enjoyable....Woody Allen's latest comedy about

 the vagaries of passion, set in Barcelona, shows that lovely Spanish city off to its best advantage, just as it does its lead actors." Premiere - 08/14/2008 "[P]roviding a setting so distinct from anything else in Allen's oeuvre that it creates the pleasurable illusion of something completely different." Box Office - 08/01/2008 3 stars out of 5 -- "The performances of Bardem, Cruz, Johansson and Hall are delightfully inventive....This may not be vintage Woody Allen, but it's certainly the best thin he has done in a long time..." Total Film - 02/01/2009 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he story is beautifully judged.

This time when the lights come up, we're sadder and wiser in the best sense." Empire - 03/01/2009 4 stars out of 5 -- "A dispatch from the battle between the head and heart....It's clear, perceptive and, most surprisingly, hot-headed and frisky." Product Description: From watching the trailer for VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, one might never have guessed that it was actually an offering from prolific auteur Woody Allen. There's no New York, no sight of Allen, and his trademark wit was nowhere to be seen. But this film--with its talented cast, sharp dialogue, and excellent use of gorgeous locations--marks Allen's best comic work since 1994's BULLETS OVER BROADWAY. Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are American best friends who have the luck of spending several summer months in the Spanish city of the title. Though the pair is inseparable, they clash over love: Vicky is engaged to the trustworthy Doug (Chris Messina), while Cristina is forever in search of new experiences and passions.

When a fiery Spanish painter named Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) proposes that the three fly off to Oviedo for the weekend with the goal of making love, the women are divided, but they both eventually agree to the trip. After unexpected events in Oviedo, they return to Barcelona where Juan Antonio's obsessive ex-wife (Pénélope Cruz) enters the picture. As the rule-bound Vicky, Hall--who has been largely unknown to American audiences before this film--gives a wonderfully witty performance that keeps pace with her more famous costars. Those who have only seen Bardem in his Oscar-winning role as the cold killer in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN will be surprised by his sexy turn in VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. Though it's often women who steam up the screen, Bardem seduces Vicky, Cristina, and the audience with such abandon that it's tough for everyone involved not to emerge a little bit smitten. Johansson, Allen's new-millennium muse, is the director's mouthpiece--she's consistently funny and more than a little neurotic, and you can hear Allen's voice in her performance.

Description by Genius Productions: Two girlfriends on a holiday in Spain fall for the same charming painter, unaware that his dynamo ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to reenter the picture. Keywords: Excerpts From the Spanish Diary - The New York Times The New York Times Movies |Excerpts From the Spanish Diary Search Excerpts From the Spanish Diary By WOODY ALLEN Continue reading the main story Photo A cast, spellbound: Woody Allen, right, directing Vicky Cristina Barcelona, with Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, center, and Scarlett Johansson. Credit Victor Bello/The Weinstein Company JAN. 2 RECEIVED offer to write and direct film in Barcelona. Must be cautious. Spain is sunny, and I freckle. Money not great either, but agent did manage to get me a 10th of 1 percent of anything the picture does over $400 million after break even. Have no idea for Barcelona unless the story of the two Hackensack Jews who start a mail-order embalming firm could be switched. MARCH 5 Met with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz . She’s ravishing and more sexual than I had imagined.

During interview my pants caught fire. Bardem is one of those brooding geniuses who clearly will need a firm hand from me. APRIL 2 Offered role to Scarlett Johansson . Said before she could accept, script must be approved by her agent, then by her mother, with whom she’s close. Following that it must be approved by her agent’s mother. In middle of negotiation she changed agents — then changed mothers. She’s gifted but can be a handful. Continue reading the main story JUNE 1 Arrived Barcelona. Accommodations first class. Hotel has been promised half star next year provided they install running water. Photo Mr. Allen with Rebecca Hall. Credit Victor Bello/The Weinstein Company JUNE 5 Shooting got off to a shaky start. Rebecca Hall, though young and in her first major role, is a bit more temperamental than I thought and had me barred from the set. I explained the director must be present to direct the film. Try as I may, I could not convince her and had to disguise as man delivering lunch to sneak back on the set. JUNE 15 Work finally under way. Shot a torrid love scene today between Scarlett and Javier.

If this were a scant few years ago, I would have played Javier’s part. When I mentioned that to Scarlett, she said, “Uh-huh,” with an enigmatic intonation. Scarlett came late to the set. I lectured her rather sternly, explaining I do not tolerate tardiness from my cast. She listened respectfully, although as I spoke I thought I noticed her turning up her iPod. Advertisement Continue reading the main story JUNE 20 Barcelona is a marvelous city. Crowds turn out in the streets to watch us work. Mercifully they realize I’ve no time to give autographs, and so they ask only the cast members. Later I handed out some 8-by-10 photos of myself shaking hands with Spiro Agnew and offered to sign them, but by then the crowd had dispersed. JUNE 26 Filmed at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s masterpiece. Was thinking I have much in common with the great Spanish architect. We both defy convention, he with his breathtaking designs and me by wearing a lobster bib in the shower.

JUNE 30 Dailies are looking good, and while Javier’s idea to add a massive Martian invasion scene complete with a thousand costumed extras and elaborate flying saucers is not a very good one, I will shoot it to make him happy and cut it in the editing room. JULY 3 Scarlett came to me today with one of those questions actors ask, “What’s my motivation?” I shot back, “Your salary.” She said fine but that she needed a lot more motivation to continue. About triple. Otherwise she threatened to walk. I called her bluff and walked first. Then she walked. Now we were rather far apart and had to yell to be heard. Then she threatened to hop. I hopped too, and soon we were at an impasse. At the impasse I ran into friends, and we all drank, and of course I got stuck with the check. Photo Mr. Allen with Ms. Johansson. Credit Victor Bello/The Weinstein Company JULY 15 Once again I had to help Javier with the lovemaking scenes. The sequence requires him to grab Penélope Cruz, tear off her clothes and ravish her in the bedroom.

Oscar winner that he is, the man still needs me to show him how to play passion. I grabbed Penélope and with one motion tore her clothes off. As fate would have it she had not yet changed into costume, so it was her own expensive dress I mutilated. Undaunted I flung her down before the fireplace and dove on top of her. Minx that she is, she rolled away a split second before I landed causing me to fracture certain key teeth on the tile floor. Fine day’s work, and I should be able to eat solids by August. JULY 30 Dailies looking rather brilliant. Probably too early to start planning Academy campaign. Still, a few notes for an acceptance speech might just save me some time later. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy AUG. 3 I suppose it comes with the territory. As director one is part teacher, part shrink, part father figure, guru. Is it any wonder then that as the weeks have passed, Scarlett and Penélope have both developed crushes on me? The fragile female heart.

I notice poor Javier looking on enviously as the actresses bed me with their eyes, but I’ve explained to the boy that unbridled feminine desire for a cinema icon, particularly one who wears a sneer of cold command, is to be expected. Meanwhile when I approach the set each morning bathed and freshly scented, between Scarlett and Penélope there is a virtual feeding frenzy. I never like mixing business with pleasure, but I may have to slake the lust of each one in turn to get the film completed. Perhaps I can give Penélope Wednesdays and Fridays, satisfying Scarlett Tuesdays and Thursdays. Like alternate-side parking. That would leave Monday free for Rebecca, whom I stopped just in time from tattooing my name on her thigh. I’ll have a drink with the ladies in the cast after filming and set some ground rules. Maybe the old system of ration coupons could work. AUG. 10 Directed Javier in emotional scene today. Had to give him line readings. As long as he imitates me he’s fine. The minute he tries his own acting choices he’s lost. Then he weeps and wonders how he’ll survive when I’m no longer his director.

I explained politely but firmly that he must do the best he can without me and to try to remember the tips I’ve given him. I know he was cheered because when I left his trailer, he and his friends were howling with laughter. AUG. 20 Made love with Scarlett and Penélope simultaneously in an effort to keep them happy. Ménage gave me great idea for the climax of the movie. Rebecca kept pounding on the door, and I finally let her in, but those Spanish beds are too small to handle four, and when she joined, I kept getting bounced to the floor. AUG. 25 End production today. Wrap party as usual a little sad. Slow danced with Scarlett. Broke her toe. Not my fault. When she dipped me back, I stepped on it. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Penélope and Javier anxious to work with me again. Said if I ever come up with another screenplay to try and find them. Goodbye drink with Rebecca. Sentimental moment. Everyone in cast and crew chipped in and bought me a ballpoint pen. Have decided to call film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Studio heads have seen all the dailies.

Apparently they love every frame, and there is talk of opening it at a leper colony. It’s lonely at the top. A version of this article appears in print on , on Page AR9 of the New York edition with the headline: Excerpts From the Spanish Diary. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Woody Allen reigns in Spain Woody Allen reigns in Spain by Angela Dawson - Aug. 13, 2008 12:00 AM Entertainment News Wire HOLLYWOOD - He's considered an artistic genius. But Woody Allen's choice of Spain as the setting for his new comedy, "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," was a practical one. A group of financiers agreed to put up $15 million if he'd make his movie there. "Writing it, directing it, or anything else is easier than getting the financing," Allen says, "so I said, sure, I'll do it.' " Allen had been kicking around an idea about two American women heading off on a summer European adventure. Why not set it in picturesque Barcelona? He'd visited the city many times over the years and found its rich culture, sophisticated cafes and temperate climate quite alluring.

As he was writing the script, Allen got a call from Spanish actress Penelope Cruz (or her agent - they recall it differently) asking him to consider her for the film. Allen knew Cruz was a great beauty but he'd only seen her Oscar-nominated turn in "Volver." Good enough. He'd write a part for her as a fiery, borderline psychotic Spanish beauty. Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who won an Oscar for his role as a killer in "No Country for Old Men," was recommended too. He plays an uninhibited Latin artist who comes between the friends. As for his two leading ladies, Allen turned to Scarlett Johansson, who starred in Allen's British-set "Scoop" and "Match Point," and British up-and-comer Rebecca Hall ("The Prestige"). Johansson would play the romantic free spirit Cristina, and Hall would play Vicky, Cristina's pragmatic counterpart. Hall initially was nervous about meeting Allen, who has a reputation for being standoffish and reclusive. But she quickly discovered he was quite easy to work with. "He's eccentric, but a lot of people are," she says. "It gets to the point where the mythology builds and builds and it becomes cultist. He's a normal person.

He's not so (anxious) all the time." Cruz recalls the quick pace with which he shoots, and how that spills into other aspects of the work. "Woody's characters in every movie feel like they're running out of time," she observes. "Working with him, I understand where that comes from, and I think he does that on purpose. That's why he shoots the movie in five weeks. Things go really, really fast. There's no rehearsals, so you'll do five scenes in one day." Does that put the cast under pressure? "No," she insists. "You have no time to be self-destructive or overanalyze things. You're in a state of emergency all the time." Allen noticed Bardem and Cruz, who play bickering, divorced artists, rehearsing on their own during production, which he found amusing. "They think (careful preparation) makes them great," he says with a chuckle. "What makes them great is that they just are great." The director is bemused by the suggestion that Hall's practical and somewhat anxious Vicky is reminiscent of characters he's played.

"I would have thought of myself - and I don't mean this because he's so charming and charismatic - in Javier's role," he counters. "I could see a funny scene of me getting up in a restaurant and trying to pick up two attractive women, then not being successful at it, or getting in over my head." Bardem's Juan Antonio is a stereotypical Don Juan, but in a comical way. An accomplished painter, he has the chutzpah to ask Vicky and Cristina to jet off with him to his summer cottage in the Spanish countryside. He's upfront about his intentions: he'll show the girls around the town and they will sleep with him afterward. The adventurous Cristina jumps at the unconventional offer. Vicky, who is engaged to a nice fellow back home in the States, is outraged but agrees to go along on the trip - to keep an eye on her friend. Cristina soon moves in with the handsome artist, but things get complicated when his mercurial ex-wife, Maria Elena (Cruz), shows up. Cruz didn't mind playing to the stereotype of a hot-tempered Latina.

"I like it because it's Woody Allen who's giving (the role) to you and it's demanding in many ways," she says. "It's a character you can do a lot with." Bardem says the Spanish dialogue in the film (subtitled in English) is a literal translation of Allen's script. "We improvised little things here and there," he adds. Johansson says she formed "a really nice friendship" with Bardem and Cruz. "I learned a lot about myself as an actor working with them," she says. "It's like all of a sudden the three of us became this little family in a way, and it made our scenes together real and so truthful." She didn't fret much about having a kissing scene with Cruz. "She's a lovely, lovely woman who is beautiful inside and out," Johansson says. "It wasn't like I sat there biting my nails down to the bone trying to think of how I was going to deal with this." While some are calling "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" Allen's sexiest film, the filmmaker seems perplexed by the assessment. "Everybody thinks there is an agenda I have," he says with a shrug. "Maybe they think it's a certain psychological turning point in my life.

It's not really so. It just so happens that this story requires a certain amount of sensuality. There is a kissing scene between the two girls that is brief. There isn't really a lot of sex in the picture." He jokes that the 1995 bomb "Showgirls" is sexier than "Vicky Cristina Barcelona." Allen just wrapped his latest film, another sexy romantic comedy called "Whatever Works," starring fellow funnyman Larry David. But he cautions not to extrapolate anything from these two films. "My next movie could be a musical with sex, or a brilliant pornographic comedy idea, or a family comedy," he says. "It's just whatever idea I come up with." Though "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" has comic elements, Allen insists that "it's a very pessimistic movie." The story's negative view of romance reflects his own. "I have a pessimistic view of relationships," says the twice-divorced filmmaker. "My view has always been that you talk about (love) with your friends, you scheme, you plot and you see psychoanalysts. But in the end, you have to luck out.

It's complete and total luck." (So far, the luck is holding for Allen, 72, and his third wife, Soon Yi, 37. The couple, married for nearly 11 years, has two children.) Always willing to try something new, the three-time Oscar winner is gearing up to direct his first opera, Puccini's comedy "Gianni Schicchi," for the Los Angeles Opera. He's taking on the project at the urging of his good friends, director William Friedkin and tenor Placido Domingo. The one-act opera opens in September. "I'm such a novice at it, I kept asking people, When we rehearse, do they sing?' " he deadpans. "I just hope Puccini's material is strong enough that I won't get hurt."

Question: Which 2008 Woody Allen directed film is set in Spain?
Answer: VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA